For me, romance has little to do with any specific location. It exists in a series of illuminated moments, snapshots taken when least expected and in the least likely of places. In Kirkenes, watching the shooting stars. Or in my Sydney hotel at dawn, opening my curtains to see a fleet of hot-air balloons drift past. Sometimes all it takes to illuminate a moment is to share it with the right person.

In Norway's North Cape, my husband and I were on our way to watch a solar eclipse. The view was spectacular, so we were told, but when we got there the fog was so dense that we could hardly see more than a few feet in any direction. Walking hand-in-hand through the fog, a sprinkling of snow at our feet, we followed the path along the cliffs. There was no sign of anyone else; we might have been alone in the world.

And then, from out of the fog, they came: a herd of wild reindeer, moving like ghosts across the snow. Almost close enough to touch, they paid no attention to us at all but simply passed by, their breath coming in clouds of steam, their hooves making the smallest of sounds against the scanty underbrush, then disappeared. I was glad that no one else saw them there. That would have diminished it. As it was, in that bleakest of places, my husband and I had shared a moment of unexpected magic, which no amount of planning could ever hope to duplicate.

Joanne Harris has contributed a story to the anthology Because I Am a Girl (£8.99, Vintage). Her new novel, Blueeyedboy, will be published by Doubleday in April. Scantours (020 7554 3530; www.scantours.co.uk) has a week's North Cape Adventures itinerary, flying into Alta and out of Kirkenes, from £1,595, including flights, transfers, accommodation and some meals. For details, go to www.visitnorway.com